


Night Vale Community Coffeehouse

by TheVioletSunflower



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Genderbend, coffee shop AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-08
Updated: 2014-05-08
Packaged: 2018-01-23 23:57:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1584146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheVioletSunflower/pseuds/TheVioletSunflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been a slow day at the coffeehouse, and Cecilia is considering just closing up early and going home, when a beautiful science student from the nearby university stops in for a vist.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Vale Community Coffeehouse

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I know Night Vale is supposed to be hot. But it's really cold here and I can't really relate to blistering heat.

4:33.

Cecilia stared intently at the wall clock, watching the second hand move agonizingly slowly across its surface. It never ceased to amaze her how the final hour of a shift seemed to drag on so much longer than the previous seven, as if the entire world were conspired to keep her in the cold coffee shop instead of her warm bed at home.

4:34.

She got up slowly from the squeaky old chair behind the counter and refilled her cup. It was her sixth cup of coffee of the day, which was far more than she'd sold since arriving at nine. It was much too chilly out for anyone to trudge through the snow to buy a lousy cup of coffee. She consoled herself with the knowledge that five o'clock was only a few minutes away.

4:36.

Not for the first time, Cecilia contemplated closing up early and heading home. The baker had left hours ago, and her supervisor Danielle hadn't even bothered to show up. She was probably curled up by a fire somewhere. Cecilia could only imagine what Danielle would have to say if SHE pulled a stunt like that. Five o'clock could not come fast enough.

4:38.

It's not like anybody would be coming in in the next 22 minutes. Her only customer all day had been old man Joseph who always popped in for his morning tea, which he swore was the best in town. Cecilia had long suspected that his visits had less to do with the tea and more to do with her company. It must get lonely for him out in his house by the car lot on the edge of town. He was a sweet old man, if a bit overly religious, but he was hardly a high-paying customer. Still, one customer was better than none.

4:41.

Screw this, thought Cecilia, if they haven't come in yet, they're not coming. She turned the key in the cash register from "retail" to "off", and was reaching for her coat when she was suddenly hit by a blast of cold air. The door had been flung open, admitting along with the wind a flurry of snow flakes and a very tall girl.

The girl was thin without being underweight. Her hair hung in perfect, dark ringlets around her heart-shaped face which housed soft, brown eyes. She was clutching a red jacket which was much too light for the frigid temperatures outside tightly to her body.

She was the most beautiful person Cecilia had ever seen.

She was also starting to glance around the shop uncomfortably. Cecilia realized she had been staring.

"Sorry," she said hastily, "I zoned out there for a second. Welcome to Night Vale Community Coffeehouse. What can I do you? I mean do to you. For you. Sorry. What do you want?"

Okay, not the most eloquent she had ever been. Not exactly a conversation starter either. She silently vowed that the next thing she said would be really good.

"A large hot chocolate please," the girl said, graciously ignoring the awkward opening line.

"Hot chocolate. Yes. That's a good choice. I make great hot chocolate."

Great hot chocolate? Had she really said that? The hot chocolate was literally a cup of warm water and a couple of scoops of dry powder. Not much skill involved there, Cecilia. Stupid.

Silently cursing herself, she filled a cup with the requested liquid and carried it towards the counter where the beautiful girl stood. It took her a grand total of three steps to trip over her own feet and spill the hot chocolate all over the poor woman's beautiful but impractical coat. What was wrong with her today?

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" She cried, hastily grabbing a stack of napkins to clean up the mess, more embarrassed than she had been in a long while.

But the ice had been broken. The girl laughed. "It's okay," she said, "the coat wasn't even close to warm enough anyways." She looked up from the dark stain on her clothing with a bit of a smile. "I'm Carla," she said.

"Cecilia. So what are you doing with such a horribly inadequate coat?" She said in her best imitation of a person whose heart wasn't racing at the good fortune of knowing such a gorgeous woman by name.

Carla smiled. "I just moved here from this small desert town down south and I had no idea it would be this cold!"

"Yeah, well you picked the wrong time to come. This is the coldest it's been in a long time. Why on earth would you move here from somewhere warm?"

"I'm studying science at Night Vale University," she explained. "Night Vale has some of the most interesting work being done in any university in the United States."

"Oh, that's neat!"

Neat? Had she just said neat? She'd never make a good impression at this rate.

"Yeah," said Carla, apparently unphased by the horribly awkward conversation. "I hope to lead my own team of scientists some day."

Cecilia nodded, not trusting herself to say something intelligent in front of what was very clearly a very smart woman.

Carla, meanwhile was warming to the conversation. Clearly her studies were a favorite topic of hers.

"I can tell you about my research if you have time."

Cecilia glanced at the clock out of habit.

5:03.

"Yeah, I've got nothing else to do," she said.


End file.
